Pre-order the device today for $349, and you'll get it sometime in June.

Nvidia's Project Shield, a portable Android-powered game console, was one of the few true surprises to come out of this year's CES. While Nvidia had a few demo units to show off then and a couple of months later at its GPU Technology Conference, we still didn't have specific information about pricing and availability.

The company answered both of these questions in a new Shield-focused blog post this morning: the tablet-turned-console will begin shipping in June for $349 from a variety of online and brick-and-mortar stores, including Newegg, GameStop, Micro Center and Canada Computers. General pre-orders begin on next Monday, May 20th, but if you've signed up to receive Shield updates from Nvidia you can pre-order the device starting today. If you haven't already registered, those who do so between now and the 20th should still be eligible to buy the device before the unwashed masses have the opportunity.

At $349 the Shield is definitely more expensive than mid-range, pure Android tablets like the $199 Nexus 7, but compares favorably to the $329 iPad mini or the $399 Nexus 10 if the physical controller appeals to you. Given the form factor, however, the more apt comparison might be to other portable game consoles rather than all-touchscreen tablets. Here, the comparison is less flattering—Sony's PlayStation Vita starts at $249.99, while Nintendo's 3DS and 3DS XL start at $169.99 and $199.99, respectively. Android's versatility makes the Shield a bit more intriguing than either of those consoles in many ways, but you'll have to pay more to get that extra feature.

Most of the other facts about the Shield have already been public for some time, but we'll run down the full spec sheet again for your benefit: the Shield will be one of the first devices to include Nvidia's new Tegra 4 SoC, which is a substantial step up from the Tegra 3. It has a 5-inch 720p display, stereo speakers, and includes 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. Dual-band 802.11n and Bluetooth 3.0 provide wireless connectivity, while micro USB, microSD, mini HDMI, and a headphone jack round out the physical port selection.

The tablet also comes with what is essentially stock Android 4.2.2 with a couple of Nvidia-centric features tacked on, one being the Tegra Zone software and one being the in-beta software for streaming games from your desktop. Because they don't have to deal with carriers, Nvidia representatives told me circa GTC that the Shield should get its Android updates without much delay, which if true would be a nice change from the standard operating procedure.

Enlarge/ The Shield prototype we played with at GTC had a mushy, unsatisfying directional pad that the final hardware may have tweaked.

Andrew Cunningham

The Shield's signature feature, of course, is the controller that's grafted on to the screen—it brings a very Xbox 360-like gaming experience to a handheld game console, which might appeal to some of you out there. Compared to the demo units Nvidia showed off at CES and its GPU Technology Conference, the Shield tablet in the press shots has been subtly tweaked. The joysticks and buttons look mostly the same (aside from switched positioning for the Start and Mute buttons surrounding the Nvidia logo button), but the directional pad is quite different.

The old directional pad was mushy, and the directional buttons themselves weren't very well-defined. The new pad, at least in the press shots, looks much more concave and the traditional "cross" shape is more distinct, giving us hope that it will feel more precise than the prototype. A good D-pad is the difference between a tablet that's great for old-school games and one that isn't, so we're eager to see if the final hardware plays better than the early versions. We'll be posting our full review of the device as soon as it's available.

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Andrew Cunningham
Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue. Twitter@AndrewWrites

More than I was hoping it was going to be (given that you can almost give a 1:1 correlation between $ and £ prices looks like it will be £320-£350 when it get's to the UK). £250 and I'd be all over it.

//edit for Gin above: It can stream your steam catalogue of games to your TV provided you have a compatible nvidia gfx card in your pc. There are also plenty more games for Android than just Angry bloody birds. Real Racing is a good example: free to play as well.

I nVision that almost no developers are interested in developing games for an Android platform that less than 1% of Android gamers are going to be using.

Edit: Forgot about the streaming of Steam Big Picture mode. This might actually be a "shut up and take my money" device for me since I have a huge Steam library of games. I still don't see developers coding for a traditional controller when 99% of the Android devices out there don't have a gamepad attached to them though.

I think this is a great idea, yet sadly it will be a nitch product due to its price. Though I would love to see more controllers like this for Android and iOS devices so we can play console ports with real frickin buttons, I do not think its worth $350.

In my opinion, Nvidia should have teamed up with a manufacture like HTC or Motorola, created an awesome Android phone with these specs that you could get for $199 with a 2 year contract, and then sell the controller specifically for it for $50.

I'm very interested in this IF it performs as well as I am hoping for streaming the games from my PC. I think I read wifi only, but a guy can dream about setting up some sort of vpn tunnel to home and gaming on the go, right?

It's hard to justify that expense to play PC games on a 5 inch screen on a controller while sitting on my porch. The HDMI out is nice but really I'd shell out on a new gaming PC for my TV before I considered wasting the money that could essentially be spent on a very nice new video card. I also don't need a gaming system to have the same apps as my phone or Nexus 7.

They kept it within reason I see, not bad. The tegra 4 looks good but is responsible for the price being what it is unfortunately. As a mini tablet this is interesting, especially due to the open source nature of android, but it always looked to be for a specific niche and at this price that's true. The only people who should even show any interest in this are those who have the recent necessary graphics cards to do the streaming. No idea if it'll be better than splashtop, but would hope so.

If you aren't going to use the streaming capabilities of this, the item was never for you. If you were? Considering the computer rig you probably have, buying a $350 device won't be that big a deal.

I think this is a great idea, yet sadly it will be a nitch product due to its price.

Niche. I wouldn't have, but you correctly wrote "should have" later in your post (rather than the execrable and illiterate yet all-too-common "should of").

As for this Nvidia N-Gage, shades of sidetalkin'! I'm certainly not its target demo, but I can't imagine who is. That is, I can't see a significant number of the people Nvidia is aiming for who would be impressed by this. It seems like Nvidia's trying to enter the console/consumer electronics space and become a household brand without doing the work it takes to create a distinctive consumer brand.

If it can stream to the HDMI output, I can see this being a nice wireless adapter for an Oculus Rift (in place of a self-contained backtop), as long as it can stream arbitrary USB data back to the PC in addition to the internal gamepad inputs (there's been talk that you can plug an external gamepad to the USB socket to use the whole thing as a stationary streaming box, so this may well be the case). Decent wireless display adapters aren't much cheaper than $300 (the cheaper ones have very high latency), and don't handle the USB for you.

In all reality, I would certainly purchase this had steam been on it and I would be able to download my games directly to the device with an HDMI out, and play it on my tv. not sure if thats even technically possible but it'd still be pretty badass.

A portable game console powered by Android to run $0-$5 Android games and cost me $350+ after tax? No, thanks. Why don't I just play on my phone instead and link with a generic game controller?

Because if that's all you see this as then it's simply a device not for you. If all you'd use it for is to play a couple cheap Android games (or emulators) then just get the sixaxis app, PS3 controller, and whatever Android tablet or phone you have. If you want Android as a gaming platform consider going with a gamestick or OUYA instead.

From the get go, the primary people this is targeting are not the Android crowd, but the PC one. Android is a good fallback on it as it's growing, but the real focus is on those with a GTX 650 or better in their computers. They know how many that is and are using this to help push it and their later lines. Soon the idea goes that if you have a PC they then you should have an NVIDIA card inside for streaming with this kind of device. If you can afford that video card then you're not going to be down much for this device.

A portable game console powered by Android to run $0-$5 Android games and cost me $350+ after tax? No, thanks. Why don't I just play on my phone instead and link with a generic game controller?

Because if that's all you see this as then it's simply a device not for you. If all you'd use it for is to play a couple cheap Android games (or emulators) then just get the sixaxis app, PS3 controller, and whatever Android tablet or phone you have. If you want Android as a gaming platform consider going with a gamestick or OUYA instead.

From the get go, the primary people this is targeting are not the Android crowd, but the PC one. Android is a good fallback on it as it's growing, but the real focus is on those with a GTX 650 or better in their computers. They know how many that is and are using this to help push it and their later lines. Soon the idea goes that if you have a PC they then you should have an NVIDIA card inside for streaming with this kind of device. If you can afford that video card then you're not going to be down much for this device.

but that makes exactly zero fucking sense. why would I want to stream games from my pc....to this device...to the tv? or stream games from my pc to the device period outside of my home network? hell I cant even really imagine doing it on my home network. maybe if I need a bio break and take the handheld with me from my desk/gaming area to the bathroom? IDK maybe its just me that wouldnt find a practical use for that.

It's hard to justify that expense to play PC games on a 5 inch screen on a controller while sitting on my porch. The HDMI out is nice but really I'd shell out on a new gaming PC for my TV before I considered wasting the money that could essentially be spent on a very nice new video card. I also don't need a gaming system to have the same apps as my phone or Nexus 7.

This can broadcast games directly to your TV using Miracast, if your TV supports miracast (or you get a ~$50 dongle), you can use this controller to play games from your PC on your TV with no other hardware required.

It's hard to justify that expense to play PC games on a 5 inch screen on a controller while sitting on my porch. The HDMI out is nice but really I'd shell out on a new gaming PC for my TV before I considered wasting the money that could essentially be spent on a very nice new video card. I also don't need a gaming system to have the same apps as my phone or Nexus 7.

This can broadcast games directly to your TV using Miracast, if your TV supports miracast (or you get a ~$50 dongle), you can use this controller to play games from your PC on your TV with no other hardware required.

In this respect, it's actually better than a steambox.

Or I could just put my gaming rig in my entertainment center and lounge on the couch with a wireless controller/keyboard playing.

I nVision that almost no developers are interested in developing games for an Android platform that less than 1% of Android gamers are going to be using.

Many developers target Tegra android systems. Either games work only on those or they have enhanced features with Tegra chipsets.

What they'll now be able to do is tack on better controls to those games.

All that being said, I still don't see this device doing that well, nor do I see developers really embracing having to develop an entire control system for a very small portion of their already small customer base.

The price is what really makes this thing a problem for me. For $100 less I can get a system from Sony I know will have better games. For nearly $200 less the same can be said about Nintendo's machine. For $250 less I can get an Android-powered unit for my TV (Ouya). I don't see any room for this device this year and I will be surprised if it gains any traction with all these better and cheaper alternatives abound.

It's hard to justify that expense to play PC games on a 5 inch screen on a controller while sitting on my porch. The HDMI out is nice but really I'd shell out on a new gaming PC for my TV before I considered wasting the money that could essentially be spent on a very nice new video card. I also don't need a gaming system to have the same apps as my phone or Nexus 7.

This can broadcast games directly to your TV using Miracast, if your TV supports miracast (or you get a ~$50 dongle), you can use this controller to play games from your PC on your TV with no other hardware required.

In this respect, it's actually better than a steambox.

Or I could just put my gaming rig in my entertainment center and lounge on the couch with a wireless controller/keyboard playing.

Completely removing the possibility of impulse couch gaming without having to spend money to upgrade two rigs.

At $200 or less, I might consider it, But at this price point it would need to have a fairly decent line up of games that I just don't ever see it getting. Which is a shame because I'd really like a more advanced handheld gaming system (really wanted a Vita but skipped it mainly due to Sony and their latest attempt at proprietary media that made the true cost of ownership a lot more than the system price).

A portable game console powered by Android to run $0-$5 Android games and cost me $350+ after tax? No, thanks. Why don't I just play on my phone instead and link with a generic game controller?

Because if that's all you see this as then it's simply a device not for you. If all you'd use it for is to play a couple cheap Android games (or emulators) then just get the sixaxis app, PS3 controller, and whatever Android tablet or phone you have. If you want Android as a gaming platform consider going with a gamestick or OUYA instead.

From the get go, the primary people this is targeting are not the Android crowd, but the PC one. Android is a good fallback on it as it's growing, but the real focus is on those with a GTX 650 or better in their computers. They know how many that is and are using this to help push it and their later lines. Soon the idea goes that if you have a PC they then you should have an NVIDIA card inside for streaming with this kind of device. If you can afford that video card then you're not going to be down much for this device.

but that makes exactly zero fucking sense. why would I want to stream games from my pc....to this device...to the tv? or stream games from my pc to the device period outside of my home network? hell I cant even really imagine doing it on my home network. maybe if I need a bio break and take the handheld with me from my desk/gaming area to the bathroom? IDK maybe its just me that wouldnt find a practical use for that.

It depends on your setup for TV streaming. If you have a TV and computer in separate rooms this can work as an in between. Why have a PC there at all when you can have a small device stream the data and connect to your TV? Effectively you get the same result with a smaller footprint (in theory anyway) and can combine a network like this. Got multiple computers with different games, no problem (e.g., family or roommates). If you have a computer next to the TV then okay, that feature isn't for you. Most people don't.

As for streaming to the device straight, why not? Sometimes you just want to lie down or relax away from the computer and play a game. Hell, if I could do that maybe I would complete a game of Civ 5.

This isn't just a bad value when compared to other Android devices, this is a terrible value when compared to the pantheon of gaming choices. I'm guessing that the cost of this thing will be something in the neighborhood of 3/4 or more of the way toward a PS4 or Xbox Whateverit'scalled. It's already the cost of a portable gaming device and a handful of games. You could just hook up OUYAs to three TVs in your house and still have money left over for games compared to this thing.

Niche doesn't begin to cover it. I can't see a way forward for this thing at all. And instead of posting links to some PR material as a response, how about some actual reasons why someone would even ponder the possibility of throwing $350 at this thing?

A portable game console powered by Android to run $0-$5 Android games and cost me $350+ after tax? No, thanks. Why don't I just play on my phone instead and link with a generic game controller?

Because if that's all you see this as then it's simply a device not for you. If all you'd use it for is to play a couple cheap Android games (or emulators) then just get the sixaxis app, PS3 controller, and whatever Android tablet or phone you have. If you want Android as a gaming platform consider going with a gamestick or OUYA instead.

From the get go, the primary people this is targeting are not the Android crowd, but the PC one. Android is a good fallback on it as it's growing, but the real focus is on those with a GTX 650 or better in their computers. They know how many that is and are using this to help push it and their later lines. Soon the idea goes that if you have a PC they then you should have an NVIDIA card inside for streaming with this kind of device. If you can afford that video card then you're not going to be down much for this device.

Yes, I bought a OUYA for $100 to play Android game on my TV which is more convenient. With xbmc and emulator support.

There is no point for anyone to streaming game from your PC to this console. Just think where would you be playing games at home? bathroom while taking a dump? For $350, you can get a decent video card with more games on window OS. Or build a decent HTPC to hook up to your TV.

None of its capabilities make any sense at that price point. It can be used to streams games... from your home computer... only if I have games on my PC (especially those which work best with a mouse and a keyboard), why do I walk over to my PC and play the game there?

Making games which target this platform (i.e.: won't run on other Andriod devices, because they make use of the Shield's features)? Then you're competing against the 3DS and the PS Vita (devices which would appeal to a similar class of mobile gamer), only with zero market share and niche product that won't attract much developer attention.

It's a nice proof of concept, but I don't see them really being able to monetize this.

A portable game console powered by Android to run $0-$5 Android games and cost me $350+ after tax? No, thanks. Why don't I just play on my phone instead and link with a generic game controller?

Because if that's all you see this as then it's simply a device not for you. If all you'd use it for is to play a couple cheap Android games (or emulators) then just get the sixaxis app, PS3 controller, and whatever Android tablet or phone you have. If you want Android as a gaming platform consider going with a gamestick or OUYA instead.

From the get go, the primary people this is targeting are not the Android crowd, but the PC one. Android is a good fallback on it as it's growing, but the real focus is on those with a GTX 650 or better in their computers. They know how many that is and are using this to help push it and their later lines. Soon the idea goes that if you have a PC they then you should have an NVIDIA card inside for streaming with this kind of device. If you can afford that video card then you're not going to be down much for this device.

but that makes exactly zero fucking sense. why would I want to stream games from my pc....to this device...to the tv? or stream games from my pc to the device period outside of my home network? hell I cant even really imagine doing it on my home network. maybe if I need a bio break and take the handheld with me from my desk/gaming area to the bathroom? IDK maybe its just me that wouldnt find a practical use for that.

It depends on your setup for TV streaming. If you have a TV and computer in separate rooms this can work as an in between. Why have a PC there at all when you can have a small device stream the data and connect to your TV? Effectively you get the same result with a smaller footprint (in theory anyway) and can combine a network like this. Got multiple computers with different games, no problem (e.g., family or roommates). If you have a computer next to the TV then okay, that feature isn't for you. Most people don't.

As for streaming to the device straight, why not? Sometimes you just want to lie down or relax away from the computer and play a game. Hell, if I could do that maybe I would complete a game of Civ 5.

IMO i'd just be cooler to have games directly on the device to hook up to the tv. maybe i'm just looking at this as more of a game console to begin with. If I could have steam locally on this device i'd purchase it in a heart beat. as for my setup I already have a rig sitting in my entertainment center. but again I hardly ever use the living room for my own entertainment purposes, thats the childrens domain lol

Who in their right mind will jeopardize $349 dollars with a product of unknown future than buying a mature product with an established brand like Sony or Nintendo? I don't know about you guys but i rather invest that money in a Sony Vita.

If the recommendation is "why don't you build..." then you're kind of missing the point. Why *should* I build a new computer when I don't have to and would frankly be more expensive to do? I can spend $350 to stream high end games to a handheld or anything that accepts an HDMI input. I could in theory hook up the computer to it, or I could just hook up a device the size of a book.

Also surprised that so many can't see why they would want to play games at home on a handheld device. Plenty of people play with their handheld systems at home plugged in simply because it's easier to have your gaming in your hands. It differs from traditional handhelds in that it's streaming so the original will still be in use, but it offers mobility. In bed, in a different room, playing discretely or quietly (turn off the monitor or the speakers), or simply being mobile while gaming too. You might as well ask "why would I play my 3DS, PSP, or Vita at home" as many answers are the same. A different library isn't splitting the difference there - games are games. For traditional portable gaming those are all better options. PC steaming is kind of its own category.

There's some shortcomings yeah (as has been noted by many, that the streaming is only on the same network; the fact that it's steaming anything puts it at risk for lag), but the audience is definitely there. Just not the same ones some of you think it is.

If the recommendation is "why don't you build..." then you're kind of missing the point. Why *should* I build a new computer when I don't have to and would frankly be more expensive to do? I can spend $350 to stream high end games to a handheld or anything that accepts an HDMI input. I could in theory hook up the computer to it, or I could just hook up a device the size of a book.

It's even better than HDMI though Black Frost, it can actually stream (from the device) to a TV using miracast wirelessly.

You can have this thing acting as a wireless conduit and controller between your PC and your TV if you've got one of the new Roku boxes or if your TV supports miracast, it's kind of brilliant.